Rosa Parks – Oratorio of Seven Songs
for Three Vocalists, String Quartet, Trumpet Quartet, Duo, Dance, and Video
by Wadada Leo Smith
Rosa Parks oratorio employs the song-form as composition that conveys a philosophical and spiritual narrative about my vision of Rosa Parks. The oratorio is concerned with ideas of freedom, liberty and justice. This meditation is centered around the Civil Rights movement. The stage setting is presented with the use of lights as a major convey of emotion and scenery with the projection of video images reconnecting history with the present.
Libreto and music by
Wadada Leo Smith
(except No Fear, text by Rosa Parks & Wadada Leo Smith)
Pre-recorded Incidental Music by:
Leroy Jenkins, Steve McCall, Anthony Braxton, and Wadada Leo Smith
Staging:
The stage plot is designed having the instrumental ensembles on the opposite side of the stage, and the three singers will occupy the center stage.
First singer:
positioned in the center of the stage in a high structured chair with a golden color cloth covering it. The voice and the pipa should be amplified with contact microphones.
Second and third singers:
Are positioned on the left and the right of the first singer. They are in the center of a circular light field that is illuminated from the ceiling to the floor and can be visibly seen from the audience.
Both singers will have RCA microphones with round-basin stands.
Video Screen and Video Projector
Ensemble Amplification:
String Quartet: Area / overhead microphones (two each)
Trumpet Quartet: acoustic on stage, but two microphones needed for the PA mix.
The Seven Songs:
Opening scene prelude:
Video Image
Ensembles Music: trumpet quartet / string quartet / electronics
Song – 1:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 381 Days: Fire
Ensembles Music: trumpet quartet / string quartet / electronics
Song – 2:
The First Light
Ensemble Music
Song – 3:
Change It!
Ensemble music: string quartet / drum-set
Song – 4:
The Truth
Ensemble Music: trumpet quartet / drum-set
Song – 5:
No Fear
Ensembles Music: string quartet / trumpet quartet / drum-set
Song – 6:
The Second Light
Ensembles music: string quartet / trumpet quartet / electronics
Song – 7:
Pure Love
Ensembles music: trumpet quartet / string quartet / electronics